On October 4th, students got a little heated during the FAU student debate moderated by the student chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). Republican, Democratic, and independent students attended to discuss the U.S. presidential election.
Six students attended the event, which TPUSA promoted on Instagram as “Democratic Students vs. FAU University Republicans.” Three were members of FAU’s College Republicans chapter (FAU GOP), and the remaining three were two registered independents and one Democrat.
TPUSA is a conservative nonprofit student advocacy organization with a chapter at FAU. The group hosted the event for students to discuss policy and whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris would be the best choice for the next president.
TPUSA President Nick Coite said the only political student organization on campus involved was the FAU GOP, as FAU’s University Democratic Party branch declined to participate. Coit said he was supportive when one of the club’s members first suggested the idea, but later changed his mind.
“College Democrats later said they wanted nothing to do with this event and had no intention of helping organize it,” Coite said. “Some of our members have justified this decision against us by suggesting that Turning Point is a biased group that treats College Democrats unfairly, and even redoubles their efforts for school-run debates. Some have explained that they are going to have reservations.”
Professor Coit spoke about FAU University Democrats’ absence from the debate, calling the move a step backwards in this semester’s efforts to bridge the gap between campus political organizations when discussing controversial topics. .
He said it would be difficult to find someone to represent the Democratic side of the debate, and if someone showed up he would “throw it in there.”
Michael Koppelman was one of the students who debated the FAU Republican students. He learned about the debate a few weeks ago after approaching the TPUSA table in the aisle.
FAU alumnus Nathan Galan was also a Democratic debater and the only supporter of Kamala Harris for president during the debate.
Galan said FAU Republicans blocked him from filming the debate because he wanted it to be recorded. He said this was because people did not want their “extremist” views to be shown on camera.
“TPUSA also did a great job of officiating fairly, so I was very positive towards them,” Gallant said. “But no credit goes to the College Republicans.”
TPUSA moderator and secretary Jack M. prepared a seven-slide presentation for the debate, which included multiple statements to which both sides responded.
The students asked the moderator, “Do you agree with this? What is your stance on this?”
The debate progressed smoothly until the fifth slide, which read, “Other candidates are bringing America closer to war.”
The debate became tense when the topic of foreign policy came up, with Mr. Galan jumping out of his seat and accusing the other side of relying too much on anecdotal evidence and disinformation.
Nathan Gallant got up from his seat during the debate and made his case to the crowd of students.
Ms. Galan felt that her voice and opinions were heard during the debate. He spoke over 20 times all night without a break.
“That’s going to happen in any room I’m in,” Galan said.
Several exchanges took place throughout the night between Gallant and Nathan Mitchell, one of the students representing the FAU Republican Party.
Mitchell and Gallant clashed several times during the debate, but ultimately found common ground.
Looking back on the debate, Mitchell said, “I wish I had said more about foreign policy.”
Two other students representing FAU Republicans declined to comment.
Moderator Jack M. stood in the back, while FAU’s College Republicans chapter attended the debate, with Nathan Mitchell on his right.
Another statement that sparked debate among the debaters was the penultimate slide, which read, “My candidate respects and supports the Constitution.”
Finally, the debate ended with all six debaters having the opportunity to share their thoughts on the final slide, “No matter who wins the election, America will be fine.”
At times the exchanges were very dissonant, but at the end of the discussion everyone found common ground.
“Some people got more airtime than others, and some people I wanted to hear got less airtime. But I would love to do this again…I think it would be fun.” Mitchell said.
After the debate, moderator Jack M. gave his perspective.
“Politics should be exciting…exchanging ideas is very important and sometimes going off-topic is just part of the nature of the conversation,” he said.
Liam Burke is a staff writer at University Press. For information about this or any other article, please contact us by email (email protected).
